When you clean your ears with a cotton swab, you risk damaging your ear drum if the swab goes too far into the ear. A study shows, that more than half of the people who visit ear, throat and nose specialists confess to using cotton swabs to clean their ears.

A ruptured eardrum, also known as tympanic membrane perforations (TMP), is a tear in the tympanic membrane, which separates the outer ear from the inner ear. A ruptured eardrum may be accompanied by sharp ear pain, an earache, ear drainage, ear ringing or buzzing, dizziness or hearing loss. In severe cases, vertigo and facial paralysis can occur.

A ruptured eardrum can lead to discomfort, and even though the study showed that most cases healed on their own within two months, surgery can in some cases be required.

There are many alternatives to clean your ears without damaging them,

For example,

1.Cordless ear wax cleaner safely and easily suctions out wax.

2.Ear candling.

3.Earwax removal aid.

4.Lighted Ear Wax.

CodyLights

11-30-2011, 08:28 PM

Uh...Sorry if I'm skeptical of some the methods you've listed. Q-tips can be dangerous, yeah, but I've heard that ear candling can be MUCH more dangerous. A lit candle in your ear? No thanks! Also, if "lighted ear wax" is what I'm thinking it is, all I can say is :eek:!

DocAudio

11-30-2011, 09:45 PM

When you clean your ears with a cotton swab, you risk damaging your ear drum if the swab goes too far into the ear. A study shows, that more than half of the people who visit ear, throat and nose specialists confess to using cotton swabs to clean their ears.

A ruptured eardrum, also known as tympanic membrane perforations (TMP), is a tear in the tympanic membrane, which separates the outer ear from the inner ear. A ruptured eardrum may be accompanied by sharp ear pain, an earache, ear drainage, ear ringing or buzzing, dizziness or hearing loss. In severe cases, vertigo and facial paralysis can occur.

A ruptured eardrum can lead to discomfort, and even though the study showed that most cases healed on their own within two months, surgery can in some cases be required.

Great post! Sticking anything in your ear poses varied risks that could lead to long-term complications.

This post should have stopped at this point but unfortunately we had to go here:

There are many alternatives to clean your ears without damaging them,

For example,

1.Cordless ear wax cleaner safely and easily suctions out wax.

2.Ear candling.

3.Earwax removal aid.

4.Lighted Ear Wax.

The only one that is okay above is #3 and that's even questionable because often times people think that more force = cleaner ears.

Bottom line...don't stick things in your ears. Wax is supposed to be there...if it's impacted or causing problems you are best served by having it removed safely and in a sanitary manner by a professional.

I won't even start talking about ear candling. That is such an amount of whoey it's not even funny. The idea that it removes anything from the ear is hogwash.

prodigyplace

12-01-2011, 04:01 AM

Here (http://www.mpsmedicalsupply.com/Catalog/Ear-Wash-Systems/Elephant-Ear-Washer-System) is what some doctors use to clean ears.

noton123

12-04-2011, 11:40 PM

i agree with finty56.everybody should know that to avoid damage.thanks for great post

hamjor

12-05-2011, 06:41 AM

When you clean your ears with a cotton swab, you risk damaging your ear drum if the swab goes too far into the ear.

Actually, finty should have stopped right there, Doc.

A study shows, that more than half of the people who visit ear, throat and nose specialists confess to using cotton swabs to clean their ears.

BZZZT! That's a meaningless statistic. How many people who don't visit ENT docs confess to using cotton swabs to clean their ears? That might be even higher than half! And in any event:
http://xkcd.com/552/
and
http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2011-11-28/

jbobp

12-05-2011, 09:29 AM

I confess: I use cotton swabs twice a day. When I get out of the shower and after I remove my aids for the day. Iíve never hit my ear drum with a swab.

seb

12-05-2011, 10:43 AM

This post will show how diluted the gene pool has become but it will also show what can happen with cotton swabs used to clean your ears. A woman that I knew was cleaning her ears with Q tips after getting out of the shower, the phone rang and forgetting that she still had a Q tip in her ear she answered the phone and proceeded to push the Q tip completely though her eardrum. Unfortunately,
she didn't learn her lesson because she still uses Q tips to clean her ears!

geospyder

12-19-2011, 12:03 AM

I clean my ears with Q-tips after showering. But I stand still while doing it. Why? About eight years ago I was cleaning my ears and "remembered" something I wanted to do down the hall in my den. As I was walking and cleaning my ear I tripped. Guess what? Yep, drove the Q-tip through the ear drum. Like I said - I still use Q-tips but only when standing still.